Saturday, April 16, 2005
To the Ridge today with Jim and Jimmy and Annie and even Winnie-- only Cathy stayed away, which proves something. A runner who was finishing as we were getting ready to start reported that two weeks ago, during the slush storm, the Sheriff's deputies that drove by made a point of splashing people who were out running, but that otherwise there has been no law-enforcement hassle. We were late getting underway, so we didn't get a very accurate picture of what park use at peak running times looks like at the moment, but there were a dozen or so cars in the lot, and we encountered about the usual complement of walkers.
Here and there-- particularly close to the entrance-- there are some pretty substantial downed branches, some of which block the road. Deeper in, at the crest of Mother's Helper, for example, the downed branches have been cut and stacked. It sends a sort of passive aggressive message-- like the cops splashing park users, leaving the road blocked seems like an extended middle finger to anyone who finds their way into the park. This message is reciprocated, actually: the sign at the entrance of the park announcing that it is closed has been covered in graffiti since I was out there two weeks ago. The whole closing the parks thing seems to me to be like saying, "Hey, you elected us-- now pay the price."
I would estimate that a troop of Boy Scouts could get the park cleaned up and ready to use over the course of a weekend, with plenty of time left over to discriminate against gay and atheist kids, and sing songs, and eat hamburgers cooked in foil, and biscuits baked by twisting dough around a stick propped over a fire. It would probably take actual Parks employees about a month to get it into shape, but they wouldn't bake any biscuits. I can imagine a kind of a "Mad Max" scene developing out there as the summer progresses, with rogue cookouts and outlaw birthday parties taking over. For now, though, it seems like it is the usual runners and dog walkers. The plants are all tipped with green, and the leaves should be out by next week.
Here and there-- particularly close to the entrance-- there are some pretty substantial downed branches, some of which block the road. Deeper in, at the crest of Mother's Helper, for example, the downed branches have been cut and stacked. It sends a sort of passive aggressive message-- like the cops splashing park users, leaving the road blocked seems like an extended middle finger to anyone who finds their way into the park. This message is reciprocated, actually: the sign at the entrance of the park announcing that it is closed has been covered in graffiti since I was out there two weeks ago. The whole closing the parks thing seems to me to be like saying, "Hey, you elected us-- now pay the price."
I would estimate that a troop of Boy Scouts could get the park cleaned up and ready to use over the course of a weekend, with plenty of time left over to discriminate against gay and atheist kids, and sing songs, and eat hamburgers cooked in foil, and biscuits baked by twisting dough around a stick propped over a fire. It would probably take actual Parks employees about a month to get it into shape, but they wouldn't bake any biscuits. I can imagine a kind of a "Mad Max" scene developing out there as the summer progresses, with rogue cookouts and outlaw birthday parties taking over. For now, though, it seems like it is the usual runners and dog walkers. The plants are all tipped with green, and the leaves should be out by next week.
